Contemplating Community in the Passing of Constance Baker Motley
[Cross posted at DailyKos]
As an African American taking a serious look into the particular ills of my community, I wonder when the next crop of Motleys will come along. Having an apartment filled with books as a child, I read about the civil rights movement from the standpoint of personal sacrifice, raw truth and interdependence as strength to propel men and women through dark times.
When someone like Motley passes, I can't help but wonder will there ever be a time again for my community, when months and months were spent by the brightest legal minds our community had to offer, hunkered down at Howard, strategizing and challenging; fed, clothed and loved by a community that understood the mission.
The mission was opening eyes and beseeching souls. The mission was for America to truly see.
The 20th century was herculean for African Americans. We had the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois as to what route our community would take toward liberation, industry or scholarship, gradual or more quickly. The Harlem Renaissance was an explosion of blackness, poets, writers, artists, musicians and singers expressing ideas of social justice and identity. It gave birth to the scholarship of the next generation, students attending predominately African American colleges engaged in social justice dialogue.
This was the womb for the Constance Baker Motleys. This is what I quietly ponder before the sun comes up.
When will be my community's next explosion? Where will the next awareness be nurtured? Where will the next awareness be nurtured?
Rest in peace Constance Baker Motley.
Civil Rights Pioneer Dies at 84
From the NYTimes:
Constance Baker Motley, a civil rights lawyer who fought nearly every important civil rights case for two decades and then became the first black woman to serve as a federal judge, died yesterday at NYU Downtown Hospital in Manhattan. She was 84.
[snip]
Judge Motley was the first black woman to serve in the New York State Senate, as well as the first woman to be Manhattan borough president, a position that guaranteed her a voice in running the entire city under an earlier system of local government called the Board of Estimate.
Judge Motley was at the center of the firestorm that raged through the South in the two decades after World War II, as blacks and their white allies pressed to end the segregation that had gripped the region since Reconstruction. She visited the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in jail, sang freedom songs in churches that had been bombed, and spent a night under armed guard with Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was later murdered.
But her métier was in the quieter, painstaking preparation and presentation of lawsuits that paved the way to fuller societal participation by blacks. She dressed elegantly, spoke in a low, lilting voice and, in case after case, earned a reputation as the chief courtroom tactician of the civil rights movement.
Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama and other staunch segregationists yielded, kicking and screaming, to the verdicts of courts ruling against racial segregation. These huge victories were led by the N.A.A.C.P.'s Legal Defense and Education Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall, for which Judge Motley, Jack Greenberg, Robert Carter and a handful of other underpaid, overworked lawyers labored.
In particular, she directed the legal campaign that resulted in the admission of James H. Meredith to the University of Mississippi in 1962. She argued 10 cases before the United States Supreme Court and won nine of them.
Judge Motley won cases that ended segregation in Memphis restaurants and at whites-only lunch counters in Birmingham, Ala. She fought for King's right to march in Albany, Ga. She played an important role in representing blacks seeking admission to the Universities of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and Clemson College in South Carolina.
She helped write briefs in the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and in later elementary-school integration cases.
[snip]
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed her as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York at the urging of Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, a Democrat, and with the support of Senator Jacob K. Javits, a Republican. The opposition of Southern senators like James O. Eastland, a Mississippi Democrat, was beaten back, and her appointment was confirmed. She became chief judge of the district in 1982 and senior judge in 1986.
Photo source: http://www.library.law.columbia.edu/rise_of_women/judiciary/baker_motley.html
Former Sec of Education "Reduce Crime Abort Every Black Baby"
From
Media Matters:
Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."
Bennett's remark was apparently inspired by the claim that legalized abortion has reduced crime rates, which was posited in the book Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005) by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. But Levitt and Dubner argued that aborted fetuses would have been more likely to grow up poor and in single-parent or teenage-parent households and therefore more likely to commit crimes; they did not put forth Bennett's race-based argument.
Of course, these are the Christian Republicans of the nation, spreading the message of Jesus Christ.
Harper's Magazine - "None Dare Call It Stolen"
Harper's Magazine
"None Dare Call It Stolen"Ohio, the election, and America's servile press
Via
DailyKos, this article demonstrates a media complicit in denigrating the legitimate questioning of the 2004 election, the partisan and illegal activities of Republican Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and the insidiousness that is a part of our election process.
Another must read.
Bush, A Cripple [from antifa at DailyKos]
From Daily Kos,
antifa blew my mind:
Truth is, there are human states of mind way beyond brave, and that is where cripples learn to live, afterwards.
This has everything to do with Mr. Bush, and whether he's fallen off the wagon or not.
For he is a cripple. He has no heart, no human feelings for other human beings. It never grew in. It's twelve sizes too small. Alone on the stage in his mind, everyone else and everything else are props in a lifelong play about him, only him. He's the only real person in the world. And so he plays with real people like boys play with little green soldiers, crashing waves of men upon one another, and making explosions with their mouths and minds.
The extent of the damage done in his childhood and young adult life is right there in his frightened eyes, in his twitchy and tumbling gait and manner, in his total inability to genuinely work, to accept criticism, to abide stress, to hear bad news, or to show mercy. It's right there in his need for constant praise and agreement, in his view of himself as God's Agent, in the way he confuses himself with America.
Bush is stuck in his 'adjustment' phase, still running from his wounds, still lashing out in pain of them. He hates himself, and the absentee father and cruel mother who built his hellish inner life. But he very likely will be stuck there all of his life, since he shows no inclination to take his inner life for himself and do something about it.
You must do yourself a favor and read this entire
post.
Goss Still Struggling as CIA head
With almost a year in his position, Bush appointee to head the C.I.A., Porter Goss is still struggling according to a New York Times
article:
Current and former intelligence officials say considerable turmoil remains within the agency, particularly within the directorate of operations, which is responsible for human spying around the world. The directorate's No. 2 official, Robert Richer, has become the most recent high-ranking official to announce his departure, and he has told officials at the White House and in the C.I.A. that he had lost confidence in Mr. Goss.
Of course, this reporter is in lockstep with the rest of the media repeating the notion of failure of intelligence on the 'war on terrorism' and Iraq as part of the trouble at the CIA:
Mr. Goss's task was bound to be complicated, partly because the agency was reduced in power and stature by the reorganization of intelligence after its failures on terrorism and Iraq.
The problem is that there weren't massive failures of intelligence on terrorism and Iraq.
When this administration was spewing about aluminum tubes for enriching uranium, experts were saying they were for missiles.
When this administration was spweing about drones dispersing chemical and biological weapons over here, experts were saying that Iraq didn't have that technological capability.
When this administration received the August 6 PDB saying "that "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings," this administration failed to act on it.
When this administration was told the yellowcake uranium attempted purchase in Niger was not true, the president used it in his state of the union address anyway.
This administration has been chocked full of ivory tower theorists with little hands on experience. So it doesn't come as any surprise that Goss would come in and his aides swashbuckling their 'change is on the horizon' swill would cause the #1 and #2 senior members of the CIA to leave along with
countless others. The whole cowboy, 'dead or alive,' 'bring 'em on,' Bolton to the UN and cronyism appointments is just a continual downward spiral of this administration and America with them.
Barbara in Bogalusa, Louisiana (via DailyKos)
Barbara on DailyKos:
I have been in Bogalusa, LA for the past three days and today I lost it...emotionally. The pain and suffering, the bullshit by every fucking government agency from the locals to the FEDS.
I have managed to bully my way into the main command center and become friendly enough with the 'important' people, that I have been invited into crucial meetings that are affectionally called "OPEC" meetings because they are about draining/screwing Americans.
Yesterday I was with the "crisis manager" of Bogalusa, Tom Anderson...he's actually a detective in the sheriff's department and while he surely was nice, he's a lying SOB when it concerns what is TRULY happening in Bogalusa.
Feel good speeches will not save lives.
Newsweek - "How Bush Blew It"
Newsweek article:
How Bush Blew It
Bureaucratic timidity. Bad phone lines. And a failure of
imagination. Why the government was so slow to respond to
catastrophe.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9287434/site/newsweek/
Joe Conason - 9/11 Anniversary, Administration Ineptitude
On the four year anniversary of the tragedy of September 11th, Joe Conason details the tragedy of cronyism and ineptitude in the Bush Administration. FEMA head Michael Brown heads the list with exaggerations and omissions on his CV and that was the beginning.
"In his pathetic insufficiency, Brown evidently was not alone at FEMA. The deputies and acting deputies and various other high-ranking pork-choppers - many of whom had landed at the agency from positions with the Bush-Cheney campaign - showed up with no experience in the hard work of saving lives and restoring communities.
But the FEMA phonies stand as symbols of far broader trouble in the Bush administration. When the Republicans first took over in 2001, and for many months thereafter, they assured us that they were the "grown-ups," and that they were "in charge." After 9/11, their flacks returned to this self-congratulatory theme, boasting that all Americans felt more secure and protected by Bush than they would if Al Gore were in the Oval Office. Their standard of accountability is to award the nation's highest decoration for public service to George Tenet and Jerry Bremer, as if nobody had noticed their notorious failures.
Pretenders such as these cannot extricate us from a debilitating war, nor can they rebuild the nation they destroyed; they have no idea how to allocate resources against terrorism, nor how to prepare for the disasters that will surely come. What the Republicans in power can do is set up photo ops, repeat spin points, concoct hollow slogans about "compassionate conservatism," and sidestep responsibility by whining about "the blame game."
The complete article can be found at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091105B.shtml
A Lengthy Post on Implications of Katrina
This
post from Darksyde of DailyKos discusses Katrina in detail including the implications of reduction in oil refining, lack of response in spite of ample warning and federal emergency response under the Department of Homeland Security. It is a lengthy post but worthy of the full read:
And there may be plenty of blame to go around of why we allowed ourselves to be so self delusional as to think the 100 year storm only happens every 100 years - and somehow, the politicians always had another 101 years to go before the 'Big One' would strike. But even that is not what I am so angered at. No -- what angers me the most - is the total and transparently obvious Disaster of our Disaster Relief programs. When pressed by reporters, the latest and greatest of excuses for these delays are include blaming looters and snipers -- for the seemingly snail's pace of disaster relief coordination, and implementation. I have a REALLY big problem with the State and Federal GOV'T that sat on their hands when they were told in no uncertain terms a CATASTROPHE was coming - with no less than 24 hrs notice. Why weren't they better positioned logistically to handle this? They were told in advance there would be a catastrophe. Exactly what level of warning do they need before they get the confirming message' of an impending attack? You know, where you raise the color code to orange or red - or whatever color of the day seems appropriate? Evidently, the code breakers at the Pentagon didn't think the level of chatter was high enough to unduly frighten people. Either that, or maybe there is still a back log of English written e-mails and government transmittals that had that CATEGORY 5 Hurricane Warning, along with the government intercepted high resolution image showing the enemy was already sneaking up on us from the south. Coming by ocean, to avoid having to go through those long lines of customs.
Go give it a read.
Left Behind by Hunter of DailyKos
Hunter is the definitive word this morning on the disaster that Katrina is and didn't have to be.
"The last twelve hours of news coverage has been nearly overwhelming. Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, others, even unapologetic partisans like Joe Scarborough and Tucker Carlson -- everyone is asking where the government is. (No, I haven't turned to Fox News. I don't have the heart, today.) Anderson Cooper lost it interviewing Sen. Mary Landrieu, countering her litany of thank-yous to a series of politicians with his own encounter with rats eating a body that had been left abandoned in the street for 48 hours. Paula Zahn boggled at FEMA director Michael Brown's declaration that the reason about 15,000 shelter seekers at the New Orleans Convention Center have gone without food or water since the day of the hurricane is because FEMA didn't even know the refugees were there until today.
The common televised theme is of reporters traveling to hard hit areas in New Orleans or the smaller communities, and reporting no FEMA presence, no National Guard presence, no food, no water, no help -- and this is day 5. "Where is the government?" has been the predominant theme of the day. Apologists are being met with barely concealed disgust, in more and more quarters. Bush administration cuts to the levee system are being widely reported. FEMA inaction is being roundly criticized by ever-more-urgent live feeds from disheveled media figures with stunned expressions.
The Convention Center situation appears to be horrific, with deaths of elderly and infants due to dehydration already now occurring. It's not clear if anything can be or is being done tonight, or how many will die between now and the morning, or what will happen then."
Read the entire post here:
[http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/2/31040/36581]
Iraq Mourns
Lest we forget, Iraqis are in mourning as well. From BBC News, "Press shock at Iraq stampede":
"The massive loss of life in the Baghdad stampede is the lead story on the front pages of Iraq's papers, where the headlines try to get to grips with the extent of the tragedy.
Two newspapers are published in black and white only as a sign of mourning."
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4203750.stm]
How New Orleans Was Lost
"How New Orleans Was Lost" by Paul Craig Roberts.
[http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?articleid=7131]
Walcott - Precise and Eloquent
James Walcott in Catastrophe Two perfectly captures the painful reality that is our National Guard in Iraq wondering if there families are still alive, the uninspiring words of the president and the finality of the disaster that is Iraq.
[http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/08/catastrophe_tim.php]
Prayerful For Katrina's Victims
I haven't been blogging as I have participated in other capacities on the liberal blogosphere. We are prayerful.
www.burymebroken.blogspot.com
